As most of you already know, marketing is the key to succeeding in this business. We have to market to buy and sell homes. Those who are best at marketing to buy a house, have a lot less work to do when it comes to selling their homes because buying right is 90% of the battle. You don’t need to be flashy, you don’t need to be an expert, you just need to be out there. It is pretty much common knowledge among most successful investors that “bandit signs” really work. You know the little signs attached to telephone poles or stuck on the side of the road that say “We Buy Houses”. They are one of the most effective forms of marketing that you can do and one of the cheapest.
But many of us have an ethical dilemma when it comes to bandit signs. They are illegal to use in most areas of the country. I can relate the concerns of you all because I have the same ones. As a result, I haven’t been putting out bandit signs because I don’t want to break the law. Some investors have decided to chance it and are willing to pay the fines because the rewards are so great. But there is a way.
First, I put bandit signs in the yards of all of my properties. If I control 10 properties at a time, I can get my signs out into all of those yards. I’m not always getting the best locations, but believe it or not, this works. I get calls from within the neighborhoods and, to tell you the truth, this may be the most effective place I’ve ever placed signs. They don’t get torn down and removed when they are in my yard. You can also consider asking friends and family to allow you to put your sign in their yard, or even pay someone to allow you to keep your sign in their yard if they have a high exposure location. Perhaps you can offer to keep the debris in the street clean in exchange for having your sign in their yard on the corner.
But more importantly, for those of you who want to plaster your signs all around town, there is a way to do so without having the sign police chasing after you. In most jurisdictions across the country, there is an unwritten rule that you can put signs out on the weekends. You can put them out Friday evening (after the sign police are off for the weekend) and take them back up by Monday morning (before the sign police come back to work).
New home builders use this technique everywhere, all the time. There are companies that have formed businesses around this. They go out Friday evening and put signs out all over town for the new home developments that are going up. When you see clusters for about 12 builders all in one spot at an intersection, chances are that one person put up the signs for all 12 of those builders. As an investor on a limited budget, you could put up your own signs on Friday evenings, and then take them up on Sunday. Of if you have the extra money to spend, track down one of the guys who is putting out the signs for the new home builders, and ask them to put your signs out as well.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Increasing Your Marketing ROI
ROI, or “Return On Investment,” is a key financial measurement that correlates the cost of business expenditures to their actual value in the “real world.” Generally, ROI is expressed as a percentage, or the ratio of net benefits over costs. This is a common formula for Return On Investment:
ROI = [(Documented Monetary Benefit - Cost of Marketing) / Cost of Marketing] x 100
Let’s look at a simple example. Let’s assume a six-month marketing campaign cost $2,000.00, but resulted in $8,000.00 in profit. $8,000.00 - $2,000.00 = $6,000.00. $6,000.00 divided by $2,000.00 is 3, which calculates to a 300% ROI after multiplying it by 100.
The lower the cost and the higher the benefits, the larger your ROI percentage will be, which – all else being equal – is better of course. Enough with the math! The most important thing for every business owner – from a one-person LLC to the board of directors for a monster corporation – is maximum return for every dollar invested in marketing.
Here are the best ways to ensure that your advertising, marketing, and sales techniques are giving you the best “bang for the buck.” After all, you are in business to make money, right?
Plan and Consider Carefully for Best Marketing Results (Be Smart!)
Perhaps you already know that in order to achieve success, you must have both a direction and a way to get there. Business planning is as important as conducting business. But, many business owners do neglect to sit down and create an action plan for making the most out of their efforts. And even more do write out a plan, but not one specific enough. Or they don’t follow through or hold themselves accountable to it.
"S.M.A.R.T." stands for Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Timely. These are descriptors for any targets that you set for your marketing efforts. Meeting just one or two of these requirements isn’t tough. But making sure your proposed benchmarks meet all five terms of “SMART” goal setting is a little more involved. In other words, it’s not much use to say “I will raise net revenue by 20%” if you don’t have any vision on how you will achieve this, how long it should take to meet this mark, or if your company is currently having trouble making a profit. Also, there’s no “F” in “smart,” but if there was, it should stand for “Flexible.” The business world moves fast, and you must be quick on your feet to keep up. There’s no point in sticking to outdated business plans if you’re faced with new information that necessitates a change in direction. Don’t be afraid to modify your path along the way if all signs point to the fact that it’s the best course of action.
Consider Migrating to Lower-Cost Advertisement Formats
If you’re looking to boost your income while keeping your marketing costs constant, it makes sense to explore options with cheaper forms of marketing. Are you currently putting a lot of money into a yellow pages ad, radio spot, or newspaper print ads? There’s a chance that you might be able to find a better way to bring customers to you.
Big yellow page ads work well for certain types of “gotta find someone now” businesses, such as plumbers, lawyers or car repair shops. It isn’t necessarily the best way to attract new customers for other types of businesses. Moving the costs of a phone directory listing to an unconventional advertising method could make a noticeable improvement in your bottom line (see tip #8 below). The cost of large print ads in newspapers or other periodicals really adds up over time. Explore the advertising rates of competing publications. You might even be able to negotiate a better price with your existing ad agent if you know that the rates of another paper with similar circulation and demographics are lower.
If you’re currently mailing out flyers, letters, or other complex advertising pieces, consider switching to postcards. Postcards have lower postage rates and have a surprisingly high readership (there’s no effort involved with opening an envelope, and the small size keeps the message short and sweet). Post cards can be extremely effective to promote new products or specials, offer discounts or coupons, generate website traffic and new leads, or send a follow up message to an existing customer.
Make Sure Your CTA is the Best It Can Be
This is especially important for direct mail, print ads, or online advertising, but the concept is critical for all forms of marketing. The CTA – “call to action” – is arguably the most critical part of your marketing pitch, because this is what actually directs your potential customer to take the intended action – whatever that may be. A poorly thought-out or poorly worded CTA can actually turn off your customer and “lose them,” even if the rest of your advertising piece is successful. Identify with your customers and their mindset when they’re thinking about committing. Write the CTA so that what you’re telling them to do is the most appropriate and logical response to the problem your product addresses. Be the voice inside their head. Make sure the CTA is clear and action-oriented! This is the worst possible time to confuse your customers and raise questions in their minds – or give them the impression that it’s OK to “sleep on it.” Also, make sure it is easy to follow your recommended course of action. If you’re telling them to “call or go online now to reserve your seat,” make sure the phone number and website address is right there.
Improve Your Print Copy
It should be obvious that any marketing materials should be clear, powerful, and 100% free from typos and grammatical errors. Yes, details do matter. Judging by the technical problems found in many small business’ websites and advertising materials, many businesses apparently still haven’t realized this. Don’t just use an electronic spell check – many word substitutions won’t be caught (such as using “your” instead of “you’re”). After you’ve checked it yourself repeatedly and think it’s perfect, run it past some friends and family and tell them you’ll give them a dollar for every legitimate error they find. That will give them some real incentive! Your copy has to do more than just “sell” by hyping features and benefits. In fact, leading off with a headline that touts how amazing and wonderful your product is might have the opposite effect and instantly turn off the reader. If you use a headline or sub-headline, remember that the purpose is only to grab the reader’s attention and compel him to keep reading – not to deliver information.
Once you have succeeded to at least getting your potential client to continue scanning your text, the following copy must make some kind of emotional connection with your prospect. Otherwise, the customer’s sales resistance stays up, and so do the odds that your message is headed to the garbage can soon. You might consider starting off with a story or anecdote that seems to have nothing to do with what you’re pitching. An involving story (one with people or animals in it) sucks your reader in and makes him forget that he’s reading an advertisement. It also plays to the most powerful part of the consumer decision-making part of the brain – the emotional part (see # 6). Make sure whatever you’ve written isn’t too long. Again, try it out on acquaintances and get their input. Ask them how it makes them feel, or if they got bored or easily distracted while reading it. Ask them if they came up with any objections to performing the call to action. What do they think about the company behind the ad after reading your piece?
Perform More Follow-up on Every “Live” Lead
In a perfect world, everyone who received your marketing message would immediately respond and become a loyal customer for life. In reality, this isn’t the case. A certain percentage of those who get your “pitch” will ignore it or never follow through on the call to action. Depending on your advertising method and your product, it might be the large majority of your target market. So, it stands to reason that those who do make the call, visit, or click to get more information or the free introductory offer should be regarded as a great potential source of income. Don’t make the mistake of letting a qualified lead go to waste. Polite and personalized follow-ups after a prospect contacts you can win a prospective client over and prevent losing their business to a competitor.
Focus Your Efforts on Understanding and Targeting the Emotional Reasons that Drive Your Customers
We’d all like to think of ourselves as highly rational and intelligent beings. But . . . the fact remains that it’s our emotional side that often spurs us into action. Design your marketing to invoke your target customer’s emotions. Firing up feelings of desire, curiosity, hope, fear, surprise, respect, humor, or even anger can make your message (or what you want them to do - #3 from above) that much more powerful and memorable. Rational arguments will help your prospect to convince himself that all of your information is logical and reasonable. It will help him to remain convinced that he made the right decision after the sale is made. But the triggers that keep a person reading before they’re “sold” and compel the reader towards the purchase decision are almost always emotional.
The best thing is to paint a picture your customers can completely empathize with, voices their true desires for them, and allows them to completely realize their frustration or dissatisfaction with their current situation. Then make the offer of the perfect solution – but only after those pre-conditions are satisfied. When you correctly identify the driving emotions behind your customers’ decision-making process, you’ll convert more prospects to clients. Even better, you’ll also build a stronger perceived value for your service or product, which means you’ll be able to convert more customers at a higher price, or rely less on discounting to close sales.
Follow Industry Trends and Monitor the Competition
There’s nothing wrong with keeping up with what other businesses in your field are up to. In fact, it’s part of your job as a smart businessperson! Always monitor your competitors’ advertising, and check out their stores and product selection. If you don’t have time or the inclination, you can pay for the information by hiring a competitive intelligence (CI) firm to find out for you. By learning about your direct competition and researching the history and past actions of its management, you will be more likely to anticipate their next move. You can even take cues from companies in other industries or large corporations that aren’t your competition. Changes in the big market caused by trends such as rising oil prices, the ever-expanding online markets, or the spread of smoking bans across the country might mean something for you in your neck of the woods.
Consider Unconventional Marketing Techniques
There’s more you can do than print, direct mail, web, and phone directory advertising. Today, you can put your business name and contact information almost anywhere – on the back of a cab, on the side of a bus, on a bus station bench, in a restaurant bathroom. All of these could be a low-cost way to boost your return on investment figure. Don’t neglect to think outside of the box. Contemplate who your customers are, where they are, and what you could easily do to make a meaningful, positive impact.
Sponsor a local youth athletic league if your target market is composed of parents or baby boomers. Volunteer your services or products for a fundraiser raffle. Do an inexpensive “thank you” gift basket to remind your top repeat customers that you appreciate their patronage. If your business is a restaurant in a busy area dominated by offices and other businesses, bring a sample tray and menus to their locations – just before lunchtime. If your clients are typically web-savvy and a specialized niche, find the top online discussion forums or chat boards that focus on your topics relevant to your business. Find out what pay-per-click advertising on these websites might cost, or if you have more time than money, create an online user ID and participate in the discussion threads as a “resident expert.” Most online forums are free to join.
Just make sure your posts are informative, unbiased and impartial. Don’t openly advertise your business, but always include a link to your company website (or at least your business contact information) at the bottom of every post. Soon, the others on these forums – your ideal target customers – will recognize your expertise and flock to you, even though you never directly asked for their business.
Listen to Your Customers (or Customers you Lost)
Survey them for how they feel your representatives, your products and your services performed. Ask them how you can improve, or why they chose a competitor instead. Offer a discount coupon for future purchases or a chance to win a randomly selected prize (DO make good on the offer after you’ve completed your market study) as an incentive to bring in replies. You’ll need answers to specific questions in order to get good information out of your survey, such as “which of the following reasons was the biggest factor in choosing my company?” But, give your customers the opportunity to speak their minds without prompting as well. You should also ask this question:
“What product or service that I don’t currently offer would you be interested in?”
You just might discover a niche customer or product that could be your real “cash cow.”
Initiate, Revamp, or Improve Your Online Presence and Marketing
If you don’t have a website, you should. After all, if you’re reading this article, you must be fully aware of how you can find almost anything you’re seeking – information or products – via the Internet. Millions of others like you know this, and more and more people are realizing this truth every day.
Many businesses make the mistake of throwing up a website, and then doing nothing to keep it current or improve it. An outdated or unprofessional-looking website will scare away more customers than you imagine. Ideally, your website should provide anything your customer would like it to do – give more information, provide a variety of pictures of your products and services, and give them the means to contact you, easily find your physical location, or place an order online. Your website’s attractiveness, layout and ease of operation are critical as well. Internet customers are typically impatient. If they can’t figure out how to get what they want out of your website in the first ten seconds, the odds are good that they will move on, seeking what they could have purchased from you from another merchant.
Finally, optimizing your website’s content for search engine optimization can have a huge impact on your overall visibility on the World Wide Web. Do the research to find out how to do it yourself, or pay someone to do it for you. Either way, it will be well worth the time or money spent.
ROI = [(Documented Monetary Benefit - Cost of Marketing) / Cost of Marketing] x 100
Let’s look at a simple example. Let’s assume a six-month marketing campaign cost $2,000.00, but resulted in $8,000.00 in profit. $8,000.00 - $2,000.00 = $6,000.00. $6,000.00 divided by $2,000.00 is 3, which calculates to a 300% ROI after multiplying it by 100.
The lower the cost and the higher the benefits, the larger your ROI percentage will be, which – all else being equal – is better of course. Enough with the math! The most important thing for every business owner – from a one-person LLC to the board of directors for a monster corporation – is maximum return for every dollar invested in marketing.
Here are the best ways to ensure that your advertising, marketing, and sales techniques are giving you the best “bang for the buck.” After all, you are in business to make money, right?
Plan and Consider Carefully for Best Marketing Results (Be Smart!)
Perhaps you already know that in order to achieve success, you must have both a direction and a way to get there. Business planning is as important as conducting business. But, many business owners do neglect to sit down and create an action plan for making the most out of their efforts. And even more do write out a plan, but not one specific enough. Or they don’t follow through or hold themselves accountable to it.
"S.M.A.R.T." stands for Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Timely. These are descriptors for any targets that you set for your marketing efforts. Meeting just one or two of these requirements isn’t tough. But making sure your proposed benchmarks meet all five terms of “SMART” goal setting is a little more involved. In other words, it’s not much use to say “I will raise net revenue by 20%” if you don’t have any vision on how you will achieve this, how long it should take to meet this mark, or if your company is currently having trouble making a profit. Also, there’s no “F” in “smart,” but if there was, it should stand for “Flexible.” The business world moves fast, and you must be quick on your feet to keep up. There’s no point in sticking to outdated business plans if you’re faced with new information that necessitates a change in direction. Don’t be afraid to modify your path along the way if all signs point to the fact that it’s the best course of action.
Consider Migrating to Lower-Cost Advertisement Formats
If you’re looking to boost your income while keeping your marketing costs constant, it makes sense to explore options with cheaper forms of marketing. Are you currently putting a lot of money into a yellow pages ad, radio spot, or newspaper print ads? There’s a chance that you might be able to find a better way to bring customers to you.
Big yellow page ads work well for certain types of “gotta find someone now” businesses, such as plumbers, lawyers or car repair shops. It isn’t necessarily the best way to attract new customers for other types of businesses. Moving the costs of a phone directory listing to an unconventional advertising method could make a noticeable improvement in your bottom line (see tip #8 below). The cost of large print ads in newspapers or other periodicals really adds up over time. Explore the advertising rates of competing publications. You might even be able to negotiate a better price with your existing ad agent if you know that the rates of another paper with similar circulation and demographics are lower.
If you’re currently mailing out flyers, letters, or other complex advertising pieces, consider switching to postcards. Postcards have lower postage rates and have a surprisingly high readership (there’s no effort involved with opening an envelope, and the small size keeps the message short and sweet). Post cards can be extremely effective to promote new products or specials, offer discounts or coupons, generate website traffic and new leads, or send a follow up message to an existing customer.
Make Sure Your CTA is the Best It Can Be
This is especially important for direct mail, print ads, or online advertising, but the concept is critical for all forms of marketing. The CTA – “call to action” – is arguably the most critical part of your marketing pitch, because this is what actually directs your potential customer to take the intended action – whatever that may be. A poorly thought-out or poorly worded CTA can actually turn off your customer and “lose them,” even if the rest of your advertising piece is successful. Identify with your customers and their mindset when they’re thinking about committing. Write the CTA so that what you’re telling them to do is the most appropriate and logical response to the problem your product addresses. Be the voice inside their head. Make sure the CTA is clear and action-oriented! This is the worst possible time to confuse your customers and raise questions in their minds – or give them the impression that it’s OK to “sleep on it.” Also, make sure it is easy to follow your recommended course of action. If you’re telling them to “call or go online now to reserve your seat,” make sure the phone number and website address is right there.
Improve Your Print Copy
It should be obvious that any marketing materials should be clear, powerful, and 100% free from typos and grammatical errors. Yes, details do matter. Judging by the technical problems found in many small business’ websites and advertising materials, many businesses apparently still haven’t realized this. Don’t just use an electronic spell check – many word substitutions won’t be caught (such as using “your” instead of “you’re”). After you’ve checked it yourself repeatedly and think it’s perfect, run it past some friends and family and tell them you’ll give them a dollar for every legitimate error they find. That will give them some real incentive! Your copy has to do more than just “sell” by hyping features and benefits. In fact, leading off with a headline that touts how amazing and wonderful your product is might have the opposite effect and instantly turn off the reader. If you use a headline or sub-headline, remember that the purpose is only to grab the reader’s attention and compel him to keep reading – not to deliver information.
Once you have succeeded to at least getting your potential client to continue scanning your text, the following copy must make some kind of emotional connection with your prospect. Otherwise, the customer’s sales resistance stays up, and so do the odds that your message is headed to the garbage can soon. You might consider starting off with a story or anecdote that seems to have nothing to do with what you’re pitching. An involving story (one with people or animals in it) sucks your reader in and makes him forget that he’s reading an advertisement. It also plays to the most powerful part of the consumer decision-making part of the brain – the emotional part (see # 6). Make sure whatever you’ve written isn’t too long. Again, try it out on acquaintances and get their input. Ask them how it makes them feel, or if they got bored or easily distracted while reading it. Ask them if they came up with any objections to performing the call to action. What do they think about the company behind the ad after reading your piece?
Perform More Follow-up on Every “Live” Lead
In a perfect world, everyone who received your marketing message would immediately respond and become a loyal customer for life. In reality, this isn’t the case. A certain percentage of those who get your “pitch” will ignore it or never follow through on the call to action. Depending on your advertising method and your product, it might be the large majority of your target market. So, it stands to reason that those who do make the call, visit, or click to get more information or the free introductory offer should be regarded as a great potential source of income. Don’t make the mistake of letting a qualified lead go to waste. Polite and personalized follow-ups after a prospect contacts you can win a prospective client over and prevent losing their business to a competitor.
Focus Your Efforts on Understanding and Targeting the Emotional Reasons that Drive Your Customers
We’d all like to think of ourselves as highly rational and intelligent beings. But . . . the fact remains that it’s our emotional side that often spurs us into action. Design your marketing to invoke your target customer’s emotions. Firing up feelings of desire, curiosity, hope, fear, surprise, respect, humor, or even anger can make your message (or what you want them to do - #3 from above) that much more powerful and memorable. Rational arguments will help your prospect to convince himself that all of your information is logical and reasonable. It will help him to remain convinced that he made the right decision after the sale is made. But the triggers that keep a person reading before they’re “sold” and compel the reader towards the purchase decision are almost always emotional.
The best thing is to paint a picture your customers can completely empathize with, voices their true desires for them, and allows them to completely realize their frustration or dissatisfaction with their current situation. Then make the offer of the perfect solution – but only after those pre-conditions are satisfied. When you correctly identify the driving emotions behind your customers’ decision-making process, you’ll convert more prospects to clients. Even better, you’ll also build a stronger perceived value for your service or product, which means you’ll be able to convert more customers at a higher price, or rely less on discounting to close sales.
Follow Industry Trends and Monitor the Competition
There’s nothing wrong with keeping up with what other businesses in your field are up to. In fact, it’s part of your job as a smart businessperson! Always monitor your competitors’ advertising, and check out their stores and product selection. If you don’t have time or the inclination, you can pay for the information by hiring a competitive intelligence (CI) firm to find out for you. By learning about your direct competition and researching the history and past actions of its management, you will be more likely to anticipate their next move. You can even take cues from companies in other industries or large corporations that aren’t your competition. Changes in the big market caused by trends such as rising oil prices, the ever-expanding online markets, or the spread of smoking bans across the country might mean something for you in your neck of the woods.
Consider Unconventional Marketing Techniques
There’s more you can do than print, direct mail, web, and phone directory advertising. Today, you can put your business name and contact information almost anywhere – on the back of a cab, on the side of a bus, on a bus station bench, in a restaurant bathroom. All of these could be a low-cost way to boost your return on investment figure. Don’t neglect to think outside of the box. Contemplate who your customers are, where they are, and what you could easily do to make a meaningful, positive impact.
Sponsor a local youth athletic league if your target market is composed of parents or baby boomers. Volunteer your services or products for a fundraiser raffle. Do an inexpensive “thank you” gift basket to remind your top repeat customers that you appreciate their patronage. If your business is a restaurant in a busy area dominated by offices and other businesses, bring a sample tray and menus to their locations – just before lunchtime. If your clients are typically web-savvy and a specialized niche, find the top online discussion forums or chat boards that focus on your topics relevant to your business. Find out what pay-per-click advertising on these websites might cost, or if you have more time than money, create an online user ID and participate in the discussion threads as a “resident expert.” Most online forums are free to join.
Just make sure your posts are informative, unbiased and impartial. Don’t openly advertise your business, but always include a link to your company website (or at least your business contact information) at the bottom of every post. Soon, the others on these forums – your ideal target customers – will recognize your expertise and flock to you, even though you never directly asked for their business.
Listen to Your Customers (or Customers you Lost)
Survey them for how they feel your representatives, your products and your services performed. Ask them how you can improve, or why they chose a competitor instead. Offer a discount coupon for future purchases or a chance to win a randomly selected prize (DO make good on the offer after you’ve completed your market study) as an incentive to bring in replies. You’ll need answers to specific questions in order to get good information out of your survey, such as “which of the following reasons was the biggest factor in choosing my company?” But, give your customers the opportunity to speak their minds without prompting as well. You should also ask this question:
“What product or service that I don’t currently offer would you be interested in?”
You just might discover a niche customer or product that could be your real “cash cow.”
Initiate, Revamp, or Improve Your Online Presence and Marketing
If you don’t have a website, you should. After all, if you’re reading this article, you must be fully aware of how you can find almost anything you’re seeking – information or products – via the Internet. Millions of others like you know this, and more and more people are realizing this truth every day.
Many businesses make the mistake of throwing up a website, and then doing nothing to keep it current or improve it. An outdated or unprofessional-looking website will scare away more customers than you imagine. Ideally, your website should provide anything your customer would like it to do – give more information, provide a variety of pictures of your products and services, and give them the means to contact you, easily find your physical location, or place an order online. Your website’s attractiveness, layout and ease of operation are critical as well. Internet customers are typically impatient. If they can’t figure out how to get what they want out of your website in the first ten seconds, the odds are good that they will move on, seeking what they could have purchased from you from another merchant.
Finally, optimizing your website’s content for search engine optimization can have a huge impact on your overall visibility on the World Wide Web. Do the research to find out how to do it yourself, or pay someone to do it for you. Either way, it will be well worth the time or money spent.
How To Write Killer Ad Copy That Attracts An Avalanche of Sellers
Here’s another short tip in my success series. I have always said that marketing is the cornerstone of your business. If there is one place that you really want to place your best efforts, it’s in your marketing. But the question I hear most often from my students is, “How do I write great ad copy?”
Writing great copy is a state of mind. It’s really just about you talking to your potential sellers about why they should contact you to buy their house. No one knows you like you know yourself. And no one can communicate who you are and what you have to offer better than you. It is best, therefore, if you write the ads yourself so the true you comes out – the one that the customers are going to meet in person when they call. Here are some tips that will help:
1. Determine what type of customer you’re trying to attract. What is their situation? What are their immediate wants (remember we always seek out what we want, not necessarily what we need? Put yourself in their shoes. What are they thinking?
2. Write down who you are. Why should someone call you? Are you a friendly person? Do you focus on service? Are you easy to talk to? Do you have a lot of experience?
3. Have a USP – Unique Selling Proposition. What makes you better than all of the rest? It can be that all your phone calls are answered by a real person. Or that you will always make an offer within 24 hours. Whatever it is that you do that makes you unique to the competition.
4. Compare the two lists and the USP. Write down some phrases that match what you have to offer with what they want. For instance, they’re intimidated to call and talk to anyone about their situation. They’re afraid of being judged. You feel that you are a nice person who is easy to talk to. A phrase you might use is: “If you’re looking for a down-to-earth person who will take the time to make you the best offer on your house, then call me now at _______.”
5. Since composing the copy is difficult for most people, consider just talking it out into a tape recorder. Just talk to your customers in everyday English. Tell them what you can do for them. Then re-play your recording and write it down.
6. After that, put it away. Come back a day or two later, and read what you wrote, and make revisions that make it a stronger message. You may want to repeat this step a few times.
7. Be confident and proud of what you have to offer, but don’t let it become cocky, and do not over promise. It is much better to under promise and over deliver.
8. Be excited when you record your message, and allow that excitement to come through in the writing. You want your target customers to feel that excitement, and know that you are the person to call.
9. Test. Test. Test. Don’t feel that you have to get your copy perfect before you can send it out. Test it. See what kind of results you get. Then make improvements, and test again. Keep which ever version pulled the best results. Then test again with a new message, always keeping the best one as your control piece.
If you feel that your advertising is not pulling the number of leads it should, you may have one of the following trouble spots with your marketing. Critique your marketing and see if any of these apply. Or ask someone you trust and respect to review your marketing and provide their feedback.
1. You are not working in a good farm area for your service.
2. Your message is not clear.
3. Your headline does not grab their attention.
4. You are not building credibility & rapport with the readers - Do you have testimonials?
5. You have not clearly communicated the WIIFM - What's In It For Me.
6. You have not made it easy for them to see your phone number to call.
7. You do not have a live person answering the phone and you are losing lead calls - most will not leave a message.
8. You have not differentiated yourself from the competition.
The key is just get started. The hardest word is the first one, after that, each one is much easier. Just follow these steps and you’ll write some killer copy.
Writing great copy is a state of mind. It’s really just about you talking to your potential sellers about why they should contact you to buy their house. No one knows you like you know yourself. And no one can communicate who you are and what you have to offer better than you. It is best, therefore, if you write the ads yourself so the true you comes out – the one that the customers are going to meet in person when they call. Here are some tips that will help:
1. Determine what type of customer you’re trying to attract. What is their situation? What are their immediate wants (remember we always seek out what we want, not necessarily what we need? Put yourself in their shoes. What are they thinking?
2. Write down who you are. Why should someone call you? Are you a friendly person? Do you focus on service? Are you easy to talk to? Do you have a lot of experience?
3. Have a USP – Unique Selling Proposition. What makes you better than all of the rest? It can be that all your phone calls are answered by a real person. Or that you will always make an offer within 24 hours. Whatever it is that you do that makes you unique to the competition.
4. Compare the two lists and the USP. Write down some phrases that match what you have to offer with what they want. For instance, they’re intimidated to call and talk to anyone about their situation. They’re afraid of being judged. You feel that you are a nice person who is easy to talk to. A phrase you might use is: “If you’re looking for a down-to-earth person who will take the time to make you the best offer on your house, then call me now at _______.”
5. Since composing the copy is difficult for most people, consider just talking it out into a tape recorder. Just talk to your customers in everyday English. Tell them what you can do for them. Then re-play your recording and write it down.
6. After that, put it away. Come back a day or two later, and read what you wrote, and make revisions that make it a stronger message. You may want to repeat this step a few times.
7. Be confident and proud of what you have to offer, but don’t let it become cocky, and do not over promise. It is much better to under promise and over deliver.
8. Be excited when you record your message, and allow that excitement to come through in the writing. You want your target customers to feel that excitement, and know that you are the person to call.
9. Test. Test. Test. Don’t feel that you have to get your copy perfect before you can send it out. Test it. See what kind of results you get. Then make improvements, and test again. Keep which ever version pulled the best results. Then test again with a new message, always keeping the best one as your control piece.
If you feel that your advertising is not pulling the number of leads it should, you may have one of the following trouble spots with your marketing. Critique your marketing and see if any of these apply. Or ask someone you trust and respect to review your marketing and provide their feedback.
1. You are not working in a good farm area for your service.
2. Your message is not clear.
3. Your headline does not grab their attention.
4. You are not building credibility & rapport with the readers - Do you have testimonials?
5. You have not clearly communicated the WIIFM - What's In It For Me.
6. You have not made it easy for them to see your phone number to call.
7. You do not have a live person answering the phone and you are losing lead calls - most will not leave a message.
8. You have not differentiated yourself from the competition.
The key is just get started. The hardest word is the first one, after that, each one is much easier. Just follow these steps and you’ll write some killer copy.
How To Use Internet, Wanted Ads, and Bird-Dogs for Rental Properties
In this article, you'll learn how to use inexpensive property search methods that don't require your physical presence in order to be effective, but which allow you to be at the right place at the right time by:
1. Using the Internet.
2. Placing classified property wanted ads in daily newspapers.
3. Mailing letters to owners of vacant properties.
4. Obtaining insider information on properties that aren't advertised from your
own spy network of paid informants, commonly known as bird-dogs.
5. Paying finder's fees to people who tell you about properties that you buy.
Develop an Aggressive Five-Pronged Property Search Plan
In order to beat your competitors to the most profitable properties in your local real estate market, you need to develop an aggressive property search plan that involves the following five property search methods:
1. The Internet.
2. Property Wanted ads.
3. Bird-dogs.
4. Finder's fees.
5. Direct mail.
Use a Property Wanted Web Page to Find Properties Online
First and foremost, use what I commonly refer to as the great equalizer--the Internet--to search online for small, mismanaged rental properties. The most efficient way I know to do this is by having a property wanted Web page on your Web site that uses URL forwarding for a property wanted domain name. If you already have an existing Web site online, for an annual fee of around $50, you can have your property wanted domain name forwarded to a specific Web page on your Web site.
For example, when you use URL forwarding, or domain redirection, you can link your property wanted domain name, directly to a property wanted Web page on your existing Web site. This way, you avoid the cost and aggravation of building an entirely new Web site for your property wanted domain name. As an example, my company, Home Equities Corp, owns the URL or domain name, www.rentalpropertywanted.com, which has URL forwarding to the Property Wanted Web page at www.homeequitiescorp.com.
This means that whenever the domain name, www.rentalpropertywanted.com is typed into a browser, the URL is automatically forwarded to the Home Equities Corp Web site, which is the destination domain.
Link Your Property Wanted Web Page to Other Web Sites
Also, link your property wanted Web page to other Web sites that you, or your friends and business associates own. For example, on my Web site www.floridalandlord.com, there's a Tampa Rental Property Wanted button that's linked to the Home Equities Corp Property Wanted Web page. By doing this, I'm placing an online property wanted ad right under the nose of all of the residential rental property owners in the Tampa Bay Area who visit www.floridalandlord.com and want to sell their property.
All they have to do is click on the Tampa Rental Property Wanted button and follow the instructions to submit their property for consideration.
Use Classified Property Wanted Ads to Find Properties
I've been pretty successful over the years using classified property wanted ads to find non-advertised properties to buy. Most people call me because they don't have the time, desire or money to market their properties themselves. Or they don't want the hassle of listing their property with a real estate broker. Sure, I've received more than my fair share of calls from flakes, loonies and other assorted crazies. But I've been willing to put up with the hassle and inconvenience because I've usually found the type of property that I was looking for.
How to Write a Classified Property Wanted Ad
When writing your classified property wanted ad, use as few words as possible to get your message across. Nowadays, most papers have a four-line minimum with each line consisting of no more than twenty-six characters. To keep your ad right at three lines, write it out on graph paper that comes already divided into small squares. This way, you won't have to waste time dilly-dallying around trying to layout your ad.
The Best Place to List Your Property Wanted Ad
To ensure you get the best possible response from your classified property wanted ad, place it in the classified real estate section under various headings such as:
1. Rental property wanted.
2. Income property wanted.
3. Investment property wanted.
4. Property wanted.
5. Real estate wanted.
When to Run Your Property Wanted Ad
When's the best time to run your classified property wanted ad? You'll have to experiment by running your ad on various days in order to find out what works best in your area. For example, in Tampa, when I run one of my property wanted ads, it's usually only in the Sunday edition of The Tampa Tribune. Why do I run my ad only on Sunday? Because I've found that I get pretty much the same response whether I run the same ad for thirty consecutive days or just on Sundays. Plus, I save a small fortune in advertising costs. The kind of response that you'll get from your classified property wanted ad depends upon four things:
1. How well your ad is written.
2. The classified heading under which it's placed.
3. The size of the paper's circulation.
4. What you say in your ad.
Test Run Your Property Wanted Ad to See Which Ad Pulls the Best Response
I highly recommend that you test run the same property wanted ad for four consecutive weeks, and then change or tweak the ad copy, and run it another four weeks to see what variation of the ad pulls the best response.
Use Bird-Dogs to Find Properties That Aren't Advertised
What's a bird-dog? It's usually someone who comes into frequent contact with problem property owners within a specific neighborhood or area, and is in a position to learn about non-advertised rental properties that are for sale there. These types of hidden properties are never formally advertised as being for sale; their availability is only made known by word-of-mouth. A neighbor, a relative, or an acquaintance may be the only one who knows of a property owner's willingness or need to sell a small rental property.
Once you recruit these type of people into your bird-dog spy network of paid informants, you'll be in a position to receive valuable insider information on non-advertised rental properties without the general public, your competitors, ever knowing of their availability.
How to Recruit Bird-Dogs into Your Spy Network of Paid Informants
The best way to find bird-dogs to join your spy network of paid informants is to tell everyone that you come into frequent contact with, that you're looking to buy small, residential rental properties, and that you're willing to pay your bird-dogs a finder's fee when you buy a property that they've told you about. Here's a listing of the type of people you want to recruit into your network as bird-dogs:
1. Mail carriers
2. Trash collectors
3. Doctors
4. Dentists
5. Employees
6. Fellow club members
7. Fellow church members
8. Door-to-door salespeople
9. Delivery truck drivers
10. Tradesmen
11. Repairmen
12. Business colleagues
13. Co-workers
14. Neighbors
15. Friends
16. Tenants
17. Taxicab drivers
18. Utility meter readers
Offer to Pay a Finder's Fee
The best way I've found to motivate people to contact me with valuable information on non-advertised rental properties, is to offer to pay a finder's fee to anyone who tells me about a property that I buy. For example, my standard finder's fee is $500 cash, payable on the day that I buy the property. Why $500? That's because $500 seems to be the figure that gets the attention of most people.
I use to offer $300, but since I've upped the ante to $500, I've more that doubled the number of leads I get monthly from people calling to tell me about small rental properties. The thing I like best about using finder's fees is that I only have to pay them when I buy a rental property. In the meantime, I've got the benefit of a lot of people looking for small rental properties for me without the cost of a weekly payroll.
Use the Internet to Advertise Your Finder Fee Online
On my real estate investment company's Web site, www.homeequitiescorp.com Property Wanted Web page, there's a $500 Cash Reward button that visitors can click on to learn about how they can earn a finder's fee of $500 in cash by simply contacting me with information that results in the purchase of a dirty, neglected, run-down two to twelve-unit residential rental property in the Tampa Bay Area. I also have my $500 cash reward printed on the backside of my business cards.
Four Reasons Why I Use Direct Mail to Contact Property Owners
Here are four very good reasons why I use direct mail to contact property owners:
1. Direct mail is easy to use. All I have to do is sit at my computer, point and click, hit a couple of keys and it'll crank out one of my standard letters to property owners that just needs to be signed, folded and inserted into an envelope. I use Microsoft Office Word 2003 that can merge names and addresses with letters. And, I use window envelopes so I don't have to fiddle around addressing them.
2. Direct mail is relatively cheap to use. I'm a penny pincher. Direct mail gives me the most bang for my buck. For example, I can mail out one hundred letters first class mail for right around $60. This includes the cost of letterheads, envelopes and postage, the whole shebang.
3. Direct mail is quick. I usually get responses from owners interested in selling within two weeks from the date I mailed the letters out.
4. Direct mail is effective. It allows me to make direct contact with owners of small, mismanaged rental properties without having to go through third parties such as real estate agents.
1. Using the Internet.
2. Placing classified property wanted ads in daily newspapers.
3. Mailing letters to owners of vacant properties.
4. Obtaining insider information on properties that aren't advertised from your
own spy network of paid informants, commonly known as bird-dogs.
5. Paying finder's fees to people who tell you about properties that you buy.
Develop an Aggressive Five-Pronged Property Search Plan
In order to beat your competitors to the most profitable properties in your local real estate market, you need to develop an aggressive property search plan that involves the following five property search methods:
1. The Internet.
2. Property Wanted ads.
3. Bird-dogs.
4. Finder's fees.
5. Direct mail.
Use a Property Wanted Web Page to Find Properties Online
First and foremost, use what I commonly refer to as the great equalizer--the Internet--to search online for small, mismanaged rental properties. The most efficient way I know to do this is by having a property wanted Web page on your Web site that uses URL forwarding for a property wanted domain name. If you already have an existing Web site online, for an annual fee of around $50, you can have your property wanted domain name forwarded to a specific Web page on your Web site.
For example, when you use URL forwarding, or domain redirection, you can link your property wanted domain name, directly to a property wanted Web page on your existing Web site. This way, you avoid the cost and aggravation of building an entirely new Web site for your property wanted domain name. As an example, my company, Home Equities Corp, owns the URL or domain name, www.rentalpropertywanted.com, which has URL forwarding to the Property Wanted Web page at www.homeequitiescorp.com.
This means that whenever the domain name, www.rentalpropertywanted.com is typed into a browser, the URL is automatically forwarded to the Home Equities Corp Web site, which is the destination domain.
Link Your Property Wanted Web Page to Other Web Sites
Also, link your property wanted Web page to other Web sites that you, or your friends and business associates own. For example, on my Web site www.floridalandlord.com, there's a Tampa Rental Property Wanted button that's linked to the Home Equities Corp Property Wanted Web page. By doing this, I'm placing an online property wanted ad right under the nose of all of the residential rental property owners in the Tampa Bay Area who visit www.floridalandlord.com and want to sell their property.
All they have to do is click on the Tampa Rental Property Wanted button and follow the instructions to submit their property for consideration.
Use Classified Property Wanted Ads to Find Properties
I've been pretty successful over the years using classified property wanted ads to find non-advertised properties to buy. Most people call me because they don't have the time, desire or money to market their properties themselves. Or they don't want the hassle of listing their property with a real estate broker. Sure, I've received more than my fair share of calls from flakes, loonies and other assorted crazies. But I've been willing to put up with the hassle and inconvenience because I've usually found the type of property that I was looking for.
How to Write a Classified Property Wanted Ad
When writing your classified property wanted ad, use as few words as possible to get your message across. Nowadays, most papers have a four-line minimum with each line consisting of no more than twenty-six characters. To keep your ad right at three lines, write it out on graph paper that comes already divided into small squares. This way, you won't have to waste time dilly-dallying around trying to layout your ad.
The Best Place to List Your Property Wanted Ad
To ensure you get the best possible response from your classified property wanted ad, place it in the classified real estate section under various headings such as:
1. Rental property wanted.
2. Income property wanted.
3. Investment property wanted.
4. Property wanted.
5. Real estate wanted.
When to Run Your Property Wanted Ad
When's the best time to run your classified property wanted ad? You'll have to experiment by running your ad on various days in order to find out what works best in your area. For example, in Tampa, when I run one of my property wanted ads, it's usually only in the Sunday edition of The Tampa Tribune. Why do I run my ad only on Sunday? Because I've found that I get pretty much the same response whether I run the same ad for thirty consecutive days or just on Sundays. Plus, I save a small fortune in advertising costs. The kind of response that you'll get from your classified property wanted ad depends upon four things:
1. How well your ad is written.
2. The classified heading under which it's placed.
3. The size of the paper's circulation.
4. What you say in your ad.
Test Run Your Property Wanted Ad to See Which Ad Pulls the Best Response
I highly recommend that you test run the same property wanted ad for four consecutive weeks, and then change or tweak the ad copy, and run it another four weeks to see what variation of the ad pulls the best response.
Use Bird-Dogs to Find Properties That Aren't Advertised
What's a bird-dog? It's usually someone who comes into frequent contact with problem property owners within a specific neighborhood or area, and is in a position to learn about non-advertised rental properties that are for sale there. These types of hidden properties are never formally advertised as being for sale; their availability is only made known by word-of-mouth. A neighbor, a relative, or an acquaintance may be the only one who knows of a property owner's willingness or need to sell a small rental property.
Once you recruit these type of people into your bird-dog spy network of paid informants, you'll be in a position to receive valuable insider information on non-advertised rental properties without the general public, your competitors, ever knowing of their availability.
How to Recruit Bird-Dogs into Your Spy Network of Paid Informants
The best way to find bird-dogs to join your spy network of paid informants is to tell everyone that you come into frequent contact with, that you're looking to buy small, residential rental properties, and that you're willing to pay your bird-dogs a finder's fee when you buy a property that they've told you about. Here's a listing of the type of people you want to recruit into your network as bird-dogs:
1. Mail carriers
2. Trash collectors
3. Doctors
4. Dentists
5. Employees
6. Fellow club members
7. Fellow church members
8. Door-to-door salespeople
9. Delivery truck drivers
10. Tradesmen
11. Repairmen
12. Business colleagues
13. Co-workers
14. Neighbors
15. Friends
16. Tenants
17. Taxicab drivers
18. Utility meter readers
Offer to Pay a Finder's Fee
The best way I've found to motivate people to contact me with valuable information on non-advertised rental properties, is to offer to pay a finder's fee to anyone who tells me about a property that I buy. For example, my standard finder's fee is $500 cash, payable on the day that I buy the property. Why $500? That's because $500 seems to be the figure that gets the attention of most people.
I use to offer $300, but since I've upped the ante to $500, I've more that doubled the number of leads I get monthly from people calling to tell me about small rental properties. The thing I like best about using finder's fees is that I only have to pay them when I buy a rental property. In the meantime, I've got the benefit of a lot of people looking for small rental properties for me without the cost of a weekly payroll.
Use the Internet to Advertise Your Finder Fee Online
On my real estate investment company's Web site, www.homeequitiescorp.com Property Wanted Web page, there's a $500 Cash Reward button that visitors can click on to learn about how they can earn a finder's fee of $500 in cash by simply contacting me with information that results in the purchase of a dirty, neglected, run-down two to twelve-unit residential rental property in the Tampa Bay Area. I also have my $500 cash reward printed on the backside of my business cards.
Four Reasons Why I Use Direct Mail to Contact Property Owners
Here are four very good reasons why I use direct mail to contact property owners:
1. Direct mail is easy to use. All I have to do is sit at my computer, point and click, hit a couple of keys and it'll crank out one of my standard letters to property owners that just needs to be signed, folded and inserted into an envelope. I use Microsoft Office Word 2003 that can merge names and addresses with letters. And, I use window envelopes so I don't have to fiddle around addressing them.
2. Direct mail is relatively cheap to use. I'm a penny pincher. Direct mail gives me the most bang for my buck. For example, I can mail out one hundred letters first class mail for right around $60. This includes the cost of letterheads, envelopes and postage, the whole shebang.
3. Direct mail is quick. I usually get responses from owners interested in selling within two weeks from the date I mailed the letters out.
4. Direct mail is effective. It allows me to make direct contact with owners of small, mismanaged rental properties without having to go through third parties such as real estate agents.
How to Mail Postcards for 12 Cents Each
You can deliver a mailing piece up to 3.3 ounces for between 11.6 and 12.9 cents each. You probably receive "junk mail" delivered at this rate. I get postcards, self-mailers, brochures, flyers, coupon books and local store catalogs on a regular basis delivered using the US postal service's Enhanced Carrier Route (ECR) rates.
As a real estate investor, you can get more sellers calling you and sell your houses fast using the lowest postage rates available. It works when you want to concentrate a mailing to all homes in a certain neighborhood or area.
We already mailed an oversized postcard to sell 6 of our houses and next week will deliver my famous "advertorial" to homeowners convincing them to call if they want to sell their house quickly and easily.
After showing other investors how to use this low cost, direct mail approach, I have figured out the best way for you to research it and use it yourself. Look in your phonebook under "mailing services." You'll also find print shops and letter shops that can help. Tell them you want to saturate several neighborhoods with a postcard. You want to use their "standard Mail" permit or you can get your own. The cost for your own is $125 to setup and $125 a year. But the mailing house may prefer or require you use theirs. That's good.
Tell the vendor you want to mail to all residents. This is also known as a SATURATION mailing. In some areas, instead of an address label, you can have POSTAL CUSTOMER or BOXHOLDER or RESIDENT preprinted on your postcard. In other areas you'll need to buy a RESIDENT LIST which includes all the addresses in a certain zip code or carrier route, but not names. We checked several sources for lists and were quoted 1 cent to 3 cents each. Do pay more than 1 cent each. If you can't get it locally then you can get it from a national company. In fact, it's possible to do the entire job (print, address and mail) with a national company.
If addresses are required, one source you can look into is www.melissadata.com. In fact, if you go to their site, you can get a count of the number of addresses and carrier routes for any zip code you enter. Their cost is about 1 cent each for online download, CD-ROM or labels.
The key postal term to mention is Enhanced Carrier Route Walk Sequence Saturation (ECRWSS). When prepared properly, the mail carrier will deliver one mail piece to each address on the route. That is a minimum requirement, all addresses on a route.
My next mailing will be to an entire zip code has 17 carrier routes, and about 8,000 addresses. If I wanted to I could further target my project to selected carrier routes only.
The cost on my last mailing was 11.6 cent postage each. To get that rate we delivered (to each respective post office) presorted stacks of cards, one for each carrier route with the number of cards needed for each route.
If you do not deliver the cards to each individual post office, then the rate is 12.1 or 12.6 cents. I have found that the easiest way to do it is to let the mailing houses do it all. Tell them what you want and let them figure it out. Get several bids.
I suggest you put your marketing message on a double-sided 4.25" x 8.5" (half sheet) postcard. That way your printing cost will only be 3 or 4 cents each. Use yellow or bright yellow card stock. Your "message" should be filled with reasons why they should respond...what's in it for them.
My first mailing was to a rural area so no labels were required. We just put POSTAL CUSTOMER below the permit imprint. That saved us from buying a list and addressing the cards. Our next mailing to a city area which requires addressing. A mailing to rural routes or postal box holders only should not require labels. Your local mailing house or letter shop should have experience with these types of mailings and can help you plan your campaign and design your postcard (i.e. the position of the permit and address info).
For more info you can search http://pe.usps.gov/ for "enhanced carrier route walk sequence saturation."
As a real estate investor, you can get more sellers calling you and sell your houses fast using the lowest postage rates available. It works when you want to concentrate a mailing to all homes in a certain neighborhood or area.
We already mailed an oversized postcard to sell 6 of our houses and next week will deliver my famous "advertorial" to homeowners convincing them to call if they want to sell their house quickly and easily.
After showing other investors how to use this low cost, direct mail approach, I have figured out the best way for you to research it and use it yourself. Look in your phonebook under "mailing services." You'll also find print shops and letter shops that can help. Tell them you want to saturate several neighborhoods with a postcard. You want to use their "standard Mail" permit or you can get your own. The cost for your own is $125 to setup and $125 a year. But the mailing house may prefer or require you use theirs. That's good.
Tell the vendor you want to mail to all residents. This is also known as a SATURATION mailing. In some areas, instead of an address label, you can have POSTAL CUSTOMER or BOXHOLDER or RESIDENT preprinted on your postcard. In other areas you'll need to buy a RESIDENT LIST which includes all the addresses in a certain zip code or carrier route, but not names. We checked several sources for lists and were quoted 1 cent to 3 cents each. Do pay more than 1 cent each. If you can't get it locally then you can get it from a national company. In fact, it's possible to do the entire job (print, address and mail) with a national company.
If addresses are required, one source you can look into is www.melissadata.com. In fact, if you go to their site, you can get a count of the number of addresses and carrier routes for any zip code you enter. Their cost is about 1 cent each for online download, CD-ROM or labels.
The key postal term to mention is Enhanced Carrier Route Walk Sequence Saturation (ECRWSS). When prepared properly, the mail carrier will deliver one mail piece to each address on the route. That is a minimum requirement, all addresses on a route.
My next mailing will be to an entire zip code has 17 carrier routes, and about 8,000 addresses. If I wanted to I could further target my project to selected carrier routes only.
The cost on my last mailing was 11.6 cent postage each. To get that rate we delivered (to each respective post office) presorted stacks of cards, one for each carrier route with the number of cards needed for each route.
If you do not deliver the cards to each individual post office, then the rate is 12.1 or 12.6 cents. I have found that the easiest way to do it is to let the mailing houses do it all. Tell them what you want and let them figure it out. Get several bids.
I suggest you put your marketing message on a double-sided 4.25" x 8.5" (half sheet) postcard. That way your printing cost will only be 3 or 4 cents each. Use yellow or bright yellow card stock. Your "message" should be filled with reasons why they should respond...what's in it for them.
My first mailing was to a rural area so no labels were required. We just put POSTAL CUSTOMER below the permit imprint. That saved us from buying a list and addressing the cards. Our next mailing to a city area which requires addressing. A mailing to rural routes or postal box holders only should not require labels. Your local mailing house or letter shop should have experience with these types of mailings and can help you plan your campaign and design your postcard (i.e. the position of the permit and address info).
For more info you can search http://pe.usps.gov/ for "enhanced carrier route walk sequence saturation."
How to Get Your Marketing Message Out All Year
I recently ordered my 2002 calendar greeting cards. Each year I mail them around Christmas time to most everyone on my contact list with a brief personal note and my $100 bill business card. What's great is people put them up and see them all year. Here's what I had imprinted on the bottom of them:
Bottom Line RESULT$, Inc. Sell Your House in 9 Days at a Fair Price! No fee.
No commission. Quick, easy and professional. FREE recorded info 24/7 at
1-888-499-1051 Box 5151 Bus: 719-687-4472 • Fax: 719-687-4471 • blresults@aol.com
I also recently ordered some high quality brass barrel pens from www.amsterdamprinting.com. Most people just imprint their name and phone number (boring!). They limited me to 5 lines of 45 characters each and I used just about every character:
SELL YOUR HOUSE IN 9 DAYS AT A FAIR PRICE! Local company needs
to buy 7 houses monthly. No fee/commission. Quick/easy/professional.
For FREE recorded info, call 1-888-499-1051 Box 5151, then call Martha at (719) 687-6885
I now give a pen to all new acquaintances including all prospective buyers and sellers. I also leave a handful at the title company, bank, or coffee shop each time I visit. They have a high perceived value (unlike cheap plastic pens) and tend to float around. They are valued at $3.79 and cost $1.79 in bulk. They are a great "lumpy mail" item to send with a sales letter to a qualified list of prospective sellers.
Amsterdam Printing has a matching brass barrel key tag that I will soon order and give to my new occupants. Also looking into custom "welcome mats" as a house warming gift. The cost can be justified with a well organized referral and follow up program. We are working on ours and will share it with you in a future issue.
You'll notice that my new advertising refers buyers and sellers to call Martha. Martha is an independent contractor. She works from her own home office. I forward one of my phone numbers to her office. After a buyer or seller goes through my voice mail system, they are invited to call Martha. She will complete a property information sheet on sellers and fax to my office for me to follow up. She will complete a buyer's information sheet on buyers and fax to our office for my sale manager Eric to follow up. She also she's an initial mail out to sellers. She adds both buyer and seller to a mailing list and emails a copy to us each week.
We were lucky to stumble across Martha. You can seek out your own "Martha" once you have the volume to justify it. A similar but different "answering and messaging" service designed for managing your buyers, check out www.BuyerMD.com.
Bottom Line RESULT$, Inc. Sell Your House in 9 Days at a Fair Price! No fee.
No commission. Quick, easy and professional. FREE recorded info 24/7 at
1-888-499-1051 Box 5151 Bus: 719-687-4472 • Fax: 719-687-4471 • blresults@aol.com
I also recently ordered some high quality brass barrel pens from www.amsterdamprinting.com. Most people just imprint their name and phone number (boring!). They limited me to 5 lines of 45 characters each and I used just about every character:
SELL YOUR HOUSE IN 9 DAYS AT A FAIR PRICE! Local company needs
to buy 7 houses monthly. No fee/commission. Quick/easy/professional.
For FREE recorded info, call 1-888-499-1051 Box 5151, then call Martha at (719) 687-6885
I now give a pen to all new acquaintances including all prospective buyers and sellers. I also leave a handful at the title company, bank, or coffee shop each time I visit. They have a high perceived value (unlike cheap plastic pens) and tend to float around. They are valued at $3.79 and cost $1.79 in bulk. They are a great "lumpy mail" item to send with a sales letter to a qualified list of prospective sellers.
Amsterdam Printing has a matching brass barrel key tag that I will soon order and give to my new occupants. Also looking into custom "welcome mats" as a house warming gift. The cost can be justified with a well organized referral and follow up program. We are working on ours and will share it with you in a future issue.
You'll notice that my new advertising refers buyers and sellers to call Martha. Martha is an independent contractor. She works from her own home office. I forward one of my phone numbers to her office. After a buyer or seller goes through my voice mail system, they are invited to call Martha. She will complete a property information sheet on sellers and fax to my office for me to follow up. She will complete a buyer's information sheet on buyers and fax to our office for my sale manager Eric to follow up. She also she's an initial mail out to sellers. She adds both buyer and seller to a mailing list and emails a copy to us each week.
We were lucky to stumble across Martha. You can seek out your own "Martha" once you have the volume to justify it. A similar but different "answering and messaging" service designed for managing your buyers, check out www.BuyerMD.com.
How to Dominate a Market with Low Cost Postcards
There are no magic bullets in marketing, but I have developed a system which comes pretty darn close. I reported in the last issue of this eLetter about my new postcard campaign. Here's an update:
I mailed 10,000 oversized postcards to one zip code. I saturated every home with my message. The total cost was less than $3,000. We received about 35 calls, only .35% response. But I bought 5 houses out of 35 leads on the first mailing! The response rate should remain the same or improve as I remail to the same neighborhoods, allowing them to see my message multiple times, giving my self increased credibility. Plus some the postcards will be saved, and I'll get more calls from this initial mailing down the road.
I bought one out of 7 houses for sell. I usually buy one out of 10 to 15. The increase in closing ratio, I believe, was a result of targeting the right neighborhoods and getting my entire sales message (my famous "advertorial") in their hand... and my new headline. These sellers were much more prescreened than if that called on a sign, classified ad or a regular smaller size postcard.
** $145,400 IN CASH AND EQUITY IN ONLY 6 WEEKS FOR $3,000 **
Here are the actual results:
House #1: This house valued at $134,900 fixed up. It needs carpet, paint and some trim items. Seller owed $89,000 plus $6,000 in back payments. I purchased for amount owed (subject to) plus $500, or $95,500. We have it under contract with a tenant/buyer for $132,000 "as is". We got our buyer in with the first month's rent, $3,500 non-refundable purchase plus some repairs to be done prior to occupancy. We have a positive cash flow. Equity gained: $35,500
House #2: Seller owed $106,000 plus several back payments. I bought for what the seller owed (subject to), about $109,000 with $3,000 down. The seller used the money down to get the loan current. House needed carpet, paint, sod in front yard, roof (unexpected.oops!) and some misc. repairs. The house did not sell quickly "as is" so we are fixing it up. It is offered for sale for $144,500 fixed up. The repair costs are $12,000. Because of roof, this is a tight deal on a fixer upper. Equity gained: $23,900
House #3: Seller owed $94,000 on a first, $10,000 on a second and $6,000 in arrears. We purchase for the $110,000 owed subject to. After repaired value is $159,500. It needs $15,000 in repairs. Currently being offered at the after fixed up price, "accepting offers as is". We made up the back payments and paid off second with cash generated from buying house #5 below. Has not sold as is yet so we are about to rehab. Equity gained: $34,500
House #4: This house is in great shape and valued at $157,500 with terms. We took over a nice $110,000 first mortgage subject to, put $2,000 down and the owner carried back $20,000 with no payments or interest, due in 5 years. We held a "round robin" open house for one hour and found a tenant buyer with $5,000 down plus the first month's rent. We had it cleaned and the carpet stretched. We also spent $500 fixing up the front yard. Because of the $20,000 (deferred down payment," we have a nice positive cash flow. Equity gained: $25,000
House #5: Valued at $165,000-$170,000. It is on the market for $179,500 with terms. My office may have sold it yesterday for $10,000 down to a tenant/buyer. House is in great shape, nice neighborhood. Owner bought for daughter and it had been vacant for 4 months without being marketed. He owed $18,000 on a first mortgage. I offered him $63,000 cash and $90,000 in 5 second mortgages secured by 5 different properties including his house, 3 of the houses above, and one of my "keeper" rental properties. Terms on his equity is 6% accumulated interest, no payments, 5 year call and the right to substitute collateral. He is a retired military officer and did not need income but wanted interest on his equity. I got a new hard money loan for $123,000 at 11% and walked away from the closing table with $60,000 cash(!) less closing costs. Equity gained: $26,500
Total equity gained on 5 houses: $145,400
Cost of mailing: $3,000
(Better than the stock market?)
The cost per deal for marketing is $600 per house, higher than my average $350. But I spoke to less sellers, saw less houses and can EASILY repeat as often as I want, anywhere in the country!
I mailed 10,000 oversized postcards to one zip code. I saturated every home with my message. The total cost was less than $3,000. We received about 35 calls, only .35% response. But I bought 5 houses out of 35 leads on the first mailing! The response rate should remain the same or improve as I remail to the same neighborhoods, allowing them to see my message multiple times, giving my self increased credibility. Plus some the postcards will be saved, and I'll get more calls from this initial mailing down the road.
I bought one out of 7 houses for sell. I usually buy one out of 10 to 15. The increase in closing ratio, I believe, was a result of targeting the right neighborhoods and getting my entire sales message (my famous "advertorial") in their hand... and my new headline. These sellers were much more prescreened than if that called on a sign, classified ad or a regular smaller size postcard.
** $145,400 IN CASH AND EQUITY IN ONLY 6 WEEKS FOR $3,000 **
Here are the actual results:
House #1: This house valued at $134,900 fixed up. It needs carpet, paint and some trim items. Seller owed $89,000 plus $6,000 in back payments. I purchased for amount owed (subject to) plus $500, or $95,500. We have it under contract with a tenant/buyer for $132,000 "as is". We got our buyer in with the first month's rent, $3,500 non-refundable purchase plus some repairs to be done prior to occupancy. We have a positive cash flow. Equity gained: $35,500
House #2: Seller owed $106,000 plus several back payments. I bought for what the seller owed (subject to), about $109,000 with $3,000 down. The seller used the money down to get the loan current. House needed carpet, paint, sod in front yard, roof (unexpected.oops!) and some misc. repairs. The house did not sell quickly "as is" so we are fixing it up. It is offered for sale for $144,500 fixed up. The repair costs are $12,000. Because of roof, this is a tight deal on a fixer upper. Equity gained: $23,900
House #3: Seller owed $94,000 on a first, $10,000 on a second and $6,000 in arrears. We purchase for the $110,000 owed subject to. After repaired value is $159,500. It needs $15,000 in repairs. Currently being offered at the after fixed up price, "accepting offers as is". We made up the back payments and paid off second with cash generated from buying house #5 below. Has not sold as is yet so we are about to rehab. Equity gained: $34,500
House #4: This house is in great shape and valued at $157,500 with terms. We took over a nice $110,000 first mortgage subject to, put $2,000 down and the owner carried back $20,000 with no payments or interest, due in 5 years. We held a "round robin" open house for one hour and found a tenant buyer with $5,000 down plus the first month's rent. We had it cleaned and the carpet stretched. We also spent $500 fixing up the front yard. Because of the $20,000 (deferred down payment," we have a nice positive cash flow. Equity gained: $25,000
House #5: Valued at $165,000-$170,000. It is on the market for $179,500 with terms. My office may have sold it yesterday for $10,000 down to a tenant/buyer. House is in great shape, nice neighborhood. Owner bought for daughter and it had been vacant for 4 months without being marketed. He owed $18,000 on a first mortgage. I offered him $63,000 cash and $90,000 in 5 second mortgages secured by 5 different properties including his house, 3 of the houses above, and one of my "keeper" rental properties. Terms on his equity is 6% accumulated interest, no payments, 5 year call and the right to substitute collateral. He is a retired military officer and did not need income but wanted interest on his equity. I got a new hard money loan for $123,000 at 11% and walked away from the closing table with $60,000 cash(!) less closing costs. Equity gained: $26,500
Total equity gained on 5 houses: $145,400
Cost of mailing: $3,000
(Better than the stock market?)
The cost per deal for marketing is $600 per house, higher than my average $350. But I spoke to less sellers, saw less houses and can EASILY repeat as often as I want, anywhere in the country!
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